When Children Kill Children: Penal Populism and Political CultureThis title examines the role of political culture and penal populism in the response to the emotive subject of child-on-child homicide. Green explores the reasons underlying the vastly differing responses of the English and Norwegian criminal justice systems to the cases of James Bulger and Silje Redergard respectively. Whereas James Bulger's killers were subject to extreme press and public hostility, and held in secure detention for nine months before being tried in an adversarial court, and served eight years in custody, a Redergard's killers were shielded from public antagonism and carefully reintegrated into the local community. This book argues that English adversarial political culture creates far more incentives to politicize high-profile crimes than Norwegian consensus political culture. Drawing on a wealth of empirical research, Green suggests that the tendency for politicians to justify punitive responses to crime by invoking harsh political attitudes is based upon a flawed understanding of public opinion. In a compelling study, Green proposes a more deliberative response to crime is possible by making English culture less adversarial and by making informed public judgment more assessable. |
Contents
1 | |
2 Culture Politics and the Media in Norway and England | 29 |
3 Crime and Punishment in Norway and England | 53 |
4 The Constraints and Effects of Political Culture | 77 |
5 The Constraints of Discourse | 95 |
6 Media Constraints and the Formation of Political Opinions | 117 |
7 Contextualizing Tragedy | 141 |
8 English Penal Policy Climates and Political Culture | 189 |
9 Political Culture Legitimacy and Penal Populism | 221 |
10 Public Opinion versus Public Judgment | 241 |
11 Effecting Penal Climate Change | 271 |
References | 293 |
Index | 321 |
Other editions - View all
When Children Kill Children: Penal Populism and Political Culture David Green No preview available - 2008 |
When Children Kill Children: Penal Populism and Political Culture David A. Green No preview available - 2008 |
Common terms and phrases
Aftenposten agenda analysis approach argues assessments attitudes Blair British Crime Survey broadsheet Bulger and Redergard Bulger murder cent Chapter claims—makers comparative conflict consensus democracies countries coverage crime and punishment criminal justice Criminology Daily Mirror decision—making defined deliberation Deliberative Poll difficult discourse analysis dominant elites emotional England and Wales experts figures find findings first Fishkin five groups high—profile Home Office Home Secretary homicide imprisonment rates incentives influence informed issues James Bulger juvenile killed knowledge Labour legitimacy less levels Lijphart majoritarian majoritarian democracies moral moral panic newspapers Nordic countries Norway and England Norway’s Norwegian Norwegian press offenders particular parties penal climate penal policymaking penal populism political culture politicians populist prison public confidence public judgment public opinion punitive range readers recorded crime reflect responses rhetoric Ryan sentence significant Silje Silje’s social Statistics Norway structural tend tion Tonry Tony Blair trust victims views